The Barnabas Fund has allocated over £240,000 (US$325,000; €280,000) of your generous donation to support the Christian Ministry of Medicine in India, which are still responding to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This enables our brothers and sisters, who are called to take care of the sick and those in need, to continue to provide care and treatment under such severe conditions, especially for our fellow Christians.

Your donation has supported many hospitals and medical departments across India. This includes installing four generators, providing personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for 12 hospitals, purchasing oxygen cylinders and oxygen concentrators, and other important equipment including pulse oximeters, stethoscopes, thermometers and electrocardiographs.

Throughout the summer of 2021, India was ravaged by Covid. At its peak in May, more than 300,000 new cases were reported every day. This, in turn, has caused medical services to be overwhelmed. Many people die while waiting for space in an overcrowded hospital; severe hypoxia means other people in the intensive care unit suffocate to death.

As of November 2021, India has officially recorded 460,000 Covid deaths. A study by the US-based Global Development Center estimates that the total death toll from Covid may be more than ten times that number. The pandemic is not over yet-your gift has saved lives, and will undoubtedly save more lives.

The church in India has been destroyed. According to reports, more than 2,000 pastors and church leaders have died from the virus in June. At least 40 ministries in India are in danger of shutting down. Just because their leader has passed away, no one can replace them, leaving Christians without spiritual care and support when they need it most.

An Indian church leader said: “The second wave of new coronavirus infections caused destruction and panic in India.” “We have lost thousands of people because of this deadly virus.”

However, the church has also made a significant contribution to the response to the pandemic. The Barnabas Foundation established an emergency working group composed of church leaders from different denominations, chaired by our international director Patrick Sookhdeo. We work closely with the Christian Medical Department, such as the Emanuel Hospital Association and the Christian Medical Association of India (CMAI).

All of this ensures that your gifts are used as effectively as possible to help and support our suffering Christian families.

The new generator of Nav Jivan Hospital in Jharkhand provides power to medical equipment and the on-site living area of ​​hospital staff  

“In our hospital, we did not set up an ICU [intensive care unit], or even an HDU [highly dependent ward],” said Dr. George Varghese, senior administrator of Prem Sewa Hospital in Gandhinagar near Barrampur in the north. This small hospital is just an example of how your donation has had a life-saving impact on the lives of Christians.

The hospital has been able to build a ten-bed COVID-19 care center and a five-bed intensive care unit. In addition to the new ward, Prem Sewa Hospital also installed an oxygen generator, which is critical to the survival of the most severely infected Covid patients.

Hospitals can only get an average of 15 hours of electricity per day—the amount may vary widely—and the oxygen generator requires continuous power. Your contribution enables the purchase and installation of a new 45 kVA (45,000 volt-ampere) generator to overcome this obstacle.

These improvements will be particularly helpful to the Christian community in Balampur. Dr. Varghese said that members of the local church can now "get high-quality medical services from the hospital, and they don't have to be referred to a remote hospital for medical treatment." He concluded: "We praise God for his mercy on our little hospital."

Prem Sewa is one of many Christian hospitals and medical departments we support in India. Nav Jivan Hospital is located in Tumbagadad Village, Paramua, Jharkhand. It is a typical rural hospital with unstable power supply and treatment risks. “The power outage caused the staff to fumble in the dark,” said Helen Paul, the hospital administrator, while causing important equipment to malfunction and delaying operations and other procedures.

Thank you for your donation. We purchased and installed a new 62.5 kVA generator to provide a continuous energy supply for the hospital. If the power from the mains stops, the generator will start to run immediately, ensuring that there are no potentially fatal gaps in the power supply. Similarly, when the main power is restored, the generator will stop immediately.

"Don't worry about it now," Helen explained. "Work has become very smooth, and the power outage will not hinder the work process."

The Broadwell Christian Hospital in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh has a similar story. Dr. Jesudoss explained that frequent power outages necessitated alternative power sources, but the hospital’s small generators could not handle it. In addition to putting patients at risk, power outages have also made the lives of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff living on-site difficult.

The hospital installed a new 125 kVA generator that can power the hospital itself and the family area where the staff are located, including 25 family dormitories and a female guest house. Dr. Jesudoss said that in the past, “we could not power the home during the day.” Now these areas, as well as operating rooms, ventilators, monitors, and other medical equipment have enough power.

"God responded to our prayers in due course through the Barnabas Fund."

Home healthcare is provided by the Christian Ministry in Bangalore for Covid patients who cannot afford hospitalization

A new 140 kVA generator was also installed at the 70-bed Burrows Christian Memorial Hospital in Kachar District, Assam. Hospital administrator Johnson Hinson explained that as a rural hospital, the area is vulnerable to the summer monsoon and cannot guarantee continuous power supply. "Because our hospital is located in a remote area, there are often power outages and power fluctuations," he said. "During the monsoon months from May to October, heavy rains damaged the grid infrastructure and interrupted the power supply. Days."

Now, Johnson says, the hospital "will be able to provide uninterrupted services to people in need of intensive care." "Thank you very much for your precious support and kindness to our hospital ministry," he added, "God responded to our prayers in due course through the Barnabas Fund."

In the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, Barnabas is providing important medical supplies to a Christian ministry that operates a 20-bed Covid isolation facility for a tribal area of ​​more than 1 million people Provide services. “The village lacks sanitation infrastructure,” Christian leader Wabif Munn explained, adding that the few hospitals in the area “cannot meet the huge demand”.

The isolation facility is equipped with a personal protective equipment kit, IV stand, thermometer and bedding, as well as food and kitchen utensils. Our project partner purchased three oxygen cylinders and four oxygen concentrators-these machines can purify the air and actually produce oxygen for Covid patients.

Tribal people are often despised and neglected. They are one of the poorest and poorest people in Indian society. "We have always been considered untouchables," said Shakar Jaganath, the tribal leader of Gachiroli. "Thank you for setting up this center in our community. We feel that we are very valuable."

The Barnabas Fund partnered with CMAI to provide 23,000 pounds (31,000 USD; 27,000 Euros) for the establishment of a 10-bed Covid care center in a Christian hospital in Nadiat, Gujarat. The new center enables the hospital to fulfill its Christian mission of caring for patients. Even if the virus subsides, the center will continue to play an important role. As a respiratory clinic, it will provide much-needed care for a long time.

The grant of £119,000 (US$161,000; €139,000) also enables CMAI to provide ten Indian hospitals with new PPE kits, including masks, face shields, gloves, work clothes and other items.

Vulnerable groups in India-including Christians-often cannot afford hospital care. A Christian ministry in Bangalore has its mission to serve those who must stay at home. A grant of 18,300 pounds (25,000 US dollars; 21,000 euros) provides health care workers with equipment such as pulse oximeters and digital thermometers for home assessments.

These are just a few of the many examples of how we use your gifts to help our brothers and sisters in need. Our project partners say that healthcare will be based on Christian service values-values ​​that are desperately needed in times of crisis.

Project reference: PR1530 Covid Emergency Fund